


Out of Focus

by ChasingDaybreak



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M, Mentions of Faerghus Four
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-15
Updated: 2020-09-15
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:34:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26478049
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChasingDaybreak/pseuds/ChasingDaybreak
Summary: It dawns on Ingrid that it’s always been there. It’s in the tiny moments, in the in betweens of her day.…and really, she shouldn’t be so surprised.
Relationships: Ingrid Brandl Galatea/Sylvain Jose Gautier
Comments: 11
Kudos: 37





	Out of Focus

“Hey Ing, refill?” Sylvain asks with an easy smile, brandishing her empty coffee mug like a weapon. It does the job and Ingrid is brought back to the land of the living. 

It has always been like this: Ingrid arrives at the coffee shop on time and ends up finishing her coffee before Sylvain even arrives. He’s always at least an hour late, claiming that he had to nap after lectures before studying. Ingrid is used to this, it’s been their routine since they started attending university. She’s just glad he still chooses to spend time with her when he was attending a completely different program. It didn’t make much sense but whatever his reasons were, she was thankful for the company.

“Thanks, Sylvain,” she replies with an easy smile and nod. 

Sylvain sashayed his way to the barista and Ingrid couldn’t help the little chuckle that escapes her at his antics. She couldn’t help but admire his confidence, and how the room instantly lights up in his presence. Maybe it’s his red hair, maybe it’s his smile…but whatever it is, Sylvain always had a way to charm the room without even trying. She continues watching him as he chats up Annette, the barista who was also an undergrad from Faerghus. 

Sylvain said something Ingrid couldn’t hear, and Annette burst out laughing. Of course, Sylvain was funny as hell but Annette was just as entertaining a character. She doesn’t want to get ahead of herself, but Ingrid thinks that Annette might be the reason why Felix sometimes shows up to these study sessions of theirs. Watching Felix fumble to order coffee was a sight Ingrid never thought she’d see, much less the blush on Felix’s face that followed that interaction. Ah, Ingrid misses Felix but he said he was going to study alone tonight and that’s okay.

Returning her focus to her notes on analytical chemistry reminds her of why she was here in the first place. It’s the first day of their very last set of final exams tomorrow and she's cramming. This coffee shop just outside the campus was the perfect spot to study. It wasn’t crowded and the atmosphere was perfect for concentration. The background music was also so perfect, she doesn’t need to bring out her own headphones. 

“Your notes look like hieroglyphs. I will never understand engineering,” a voice said directly to her right ear. Sylvain has found the nook on her shoulder and decided to park his face there while dissing Ingrid’s career choice.

“Always so rude, I don’t know how you’ll lead Gautier like that,” Ingrid replies with a jab and Sylvain just laughs as he finally takes a seat across her. 

“How do you think you’re gonna do?” He inquires as he sets up his own study materials on their shared table and hands Ingrid his spare hoodie. She didn’t ask for it but he knows well enough that even though Ingrid grew up in Faerghus, she was weak to the cold. 

Ingrid accepts the hoodie with a shy smile, knowing Sylvain wouldn’t take no for an answer. She could still feel a chill even with her sweater on anyway. She waits until she’s put it on and has had a whiff of his comforting scent before replying honestly. 

“I’ll be okay, but I wanna do well,” she says.

“Always the achiever, you,” Sylvain replies with a tiny smirk. 

“Well of course, I have to work for my place in this world you know,” _unlike you or Dimitri or Felix_ goes unsaid but they both know what she means. 

She immediately regrets how she worded that, but Sylvain’s face morphs into a mask and she knows she has to try to make it right. It’s not their fault they’re born into their families. It’s not their fault that they were literally destined to lead while she was expected to be married off for the survival of her father’s company. 

She sighs and says, “Hey, sorry. I didn’t mean to make it sound like you guys don’t have to try. I know how hard you work, and I know you’re already doing so well. I just won’t have the same opportunities as you but that isn’t enough reason to speak like that,”

“No blood, no foul, Ing. We’ve talked about this a bunch of times. I just hope that for all those times, you realize we wouldn’t let you down and we’re willing to help you out when the time comes. But I get it, and I’m proud of you for all the effort you put into your work to be someone other than your family name. Besides, you’re right, we’re privileged but politics isn’t as easy as it seems…so let’s get to studying, yeah?” Sylvain replies with a genuine smile she knows well and knows he reserves for her. She finds comfort in his words, a familiar warmth that was always there to ease her worries. 

Sylvain always had a way of quieting her doubts, especially those about about her future. She had confided in her childhood friends that while she wanted more in life, her father only wanted to marry her off to some rich politician. That was one of the reasons she was so eager to leave Faerghus, to be as far away as possible from Galatea. Here in Garreg Mach, she can pretend she has a future she can make her own. That’s why she tries so hard, so that hopefully she gets the recognition her work deserves. That may open opportunities she can take to show her father that she can support Galatea in a different way. 

Ingrid smiles and nods her assent and turns back to her notes but her mind was still drifting some. 

All her life, Ingrid had her childhood friends. Dimitri, the future king who needed them more than he was willing to admit for fear of being a burden to them. Felix who was always so stern, but loved them and was the first to protect them in the face of danger. And there was Sylvain, the easygoing one who despite his flirtatious nature never let them down when it mattered. He was all laughs and charm but he was also the solid foundation of their little friend group. He was the buffer between Dimitri and Felix when things got a little heated. He was the one to always take her place as damsel in distress when she wanted to be the knight as kids.

Sylvain was special to her because of that. He always made time for her and accommodated her and just knew her well enough to know that sometimes she wants more than she was willing to voice out. He was the one to pitch the idea of these study sessions because he knew that she might be lonely while the three of them 'lived it up' in Political Science as she toiled away in Chemical Engineering. 

She was always there for Sylvain, to clean up his messes. But credit goes to him as well for keeping her _alive_. Ingrid knows she isn’t as happy when she is without him and she — oh.

That’s what this is? 

It dawns on Ingrid that it’s always been there. It’s in the tiny moments, in the in betweens of her day.…and really, she shouldn’t be so surprised. 

She loves him.

She loves Sylvain Jose Gautier.

She always had, even as a little girl fighting off the monster Felix to save the damsel in distress Sylvain.

She loved him and it was the most natural thing in the world. 

She risks a glance at him and… _how could she not realize this sooner_? Sylvain was hunched over a textbook, highlighter in hand. His hair looked a mess on his head, his slim framed glasses sitting on his nose, and his lips were pursed in concentration as his eyes flew across the page in front of him.

Ingrid wasn’t as inconspicuous as she thought, or maybe she was just staring too long without realizing it because Sylvain looked back at her and asked, “something on my face, Ing?”

“No, it’s nothing,” she surprises even herself with how calm she sounded when she could feel her heart ready to jump out of her chest.

Sylvain just shrugs and goes back to his studying and Ingrid couldn’t help the gentle smile that stretches across her face.

Of course she loved him.


End file.
